StARLink

Put St Andrews back on the rails

St Andrews report featured
in professional journal

Friday, 08 February 2013

The article cites the GIS overlay and land mapping
techniques used, which take account of geological
features to indicate the suitability of the
underlying rock, which gives an earthworks cost,
including SSSI disturbance values, of £70M with 30%
risk for 7855 m of single-track line with passive
provision for doubling and a second platform. The
alignment includes a triangular junction to permit
direct running to Edinburgh and to Dundee. The former
would run every hour via West Fife to ease line
occupancy, stopping at Cupar, Dunfermline Town,
Edinburgh Gateway and Haymarket, giving a total
journey time of 1 hr 15 mins. The Dundee service
would stop at Leuchars and could run half-hourly.

The demand study follows industry guidance, including
the Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook, which
assumes that people act rationally. As this is a new
line, an estimate of absolute, as opposed to
existing, demand was required, so a trip rate model,
using linear regression and including specific St
Andrews data, was created. To reflect factors unique
to St Andrews, a 25% enhancement was added to
footfall relative to population for existing Fife
stations, and the abstraction from Leuchars was
calculated in similar fashion. Increased use at the
intermediate stations were added using a basic
formula and the revenue impact was obtained based
upon National Rail trends and Scottish Transport
statistics.

St Andrews forecast - 385-508km journeys (less
abstraction from Leuchars) with net annual revenue
between £0.653M and £1.637M, with travel time
reduction benefits between £0.214M and £0.269M and
those pertaining to modal transfer between £0.069M
and £0.166M.

The authors concluded that ‘local issues should be
seen in the context of St Andrews as a world class
destination for golf and its university, whose
improved connectivity can make a significant
contribution to the Scottish economy.’ They commend
their findings for further study consistent with the
Government’s Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidelines
(STAG).